Online circular provider Wanderful Media raises $5 million

By Thad RueterSenior Editor

Consumers use its ‘Find n Save’ service to access online ads and offers.

Wanderful Media, which enables newspapers to create digital circulars designed to drive shoppers into stores, said this week it raised $5 million in a new funding round. In total, the company, which was founded in 2011, has raised $27 million.

The new capital, raised in late 2012, comes from such existing investors as Advance Digital, Hearst Corp., GateHouse Media and The McClatchy Co., says a Wanderful spokesman. Wanderful Media says it works with some 300 newspapers, and hopes to have 600 by the end of 2013.

The company operates a technology called “Find n Save.” A Find n Save button on the sites of client newspapers—for instance, in the bottom right corner of WashingtonPost.com—sends consumers to the digital circulars, which have offers and advertising from local merchants. Consumers also can search for products and deals via a site search box on the digital circular page. Except for daily deal-like offers—for Washington Post readers today, $75 for paragliding flights in northern Virginia—consumers cannot buy directly from the digital circulars; the spokesman says the technology is designed to encourage shoppers to visit stores.

“For Wanderful Media, 2012 will be defined as a year of building, and the theme for this year will be delivering,” says CEO Ben T. Smith. “We've been moving quickly since the company launch and are well on our way to hitting many important goals in Q1.”